


Munchies, Moggie & Early Morning Musings

by AsheTarasovich (natalieashe), Boffin1710, natalieashe



Series: Secret Garden [5]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Alec is Indulgent, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, M/M, No James in This Story, Q Has a Cat, Q is Tired Not Tired, Snuggling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-02 04:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5233745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natalieashe/pseuds/AsheTarasovich, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boffin1710/pseuds/Boffin1710, https://archiveofourown.org/users/natalieashe/pseuds/natalieashe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Q is working too hard and Alec decides he needs a break for snuggling</p>
            </blockquote>





	Munchies, Moggie & Early Morning Musings

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is fluff. Pure snuggly fluff. We are not sorry.

Alec yawned and stretched, rolling over expecting to encounter a warm skinny body, but instead found only cool sheets. He cracked an eye open and propped himself up on one elbow scanning the room and nodding to himself. Just after 3am. Stood to reason Q wouldn't be in bed. Alec would have been more surprised to find him there. Wondering briefly if he should just sink back into sleep he finally sighed and swung his legs out of bed.

The flat was quiet but by no means silent. Alec wandered through the living room attracted by the quiet click of a keyboard and the glow of the laptop screen. Rounding the corner he found Q perched at the kitchen counter, glasses glinting in the eerie computer light, typing furiously. A raft of sketches and scribbled notes spilled across the counter top and onto the floor.

Amelie looked up sleepily from where she was curled on the other stool but Q didn't even acknowledge him. Alec grinned at the deep frown of concentration and filled the kettle, dropping tea bags directly into two mugs. While he waited for it to boil he moved to peer over Q’s shoulder, one large warm hand curling around the slim man’s bare waist just above his pyjama pants. “How’s it going?” He dropped a small kiss on the nape of Q’s neck.

"Good. Maddening. Amelie is being no help whatsoever." Q leaned back into Alec's bare chest, sighing as he rubbed the back of a hand underneath his glasses. "Please tell me we have munchies in this flat somewhere."

"Your skin is cold." Alec chided him. "Not only are you working all night but you're going to catch your death." He rubbed his large calloused hand over Q's cool skin. "Definitely need tea."

"What I need is for this idiotic script to quit fighting me. My feline co-worker keeps dosing off on me. Not holding up her end of the partnership."

Alec moved away for a few moments but immediately returned with one of his own long sleeved jumpers. "Here, at least put this on so your skin is not turning blue while I finish tea."  
holding the jumper out to him.

Q frowned at it a moment as if failing to register what it was then gave an involuntary shiver. "I am cold" he said surprised "I hadn't really noticed." Obediently he pulled the soft wool over his head letting it fall down his body. The sleeves were far too long and flopped comically over his hands. He shoved the cuffs up his forearms and straightened his glasses.

"Better?" Alec handed him a steaming mug and began investigating the cupboards for the requested snacks.

"Mm..." Q agreed holding the mug up to his lips until his glasses fogged. He inhaled the fragrant steam and sighed. "Sorry. Got distracted again. I'm just so close to finishing..."

Alec put his own mug on the counter alongside a bowl of crisps and a packet of chocolate biscuits. "Eat" he ordered with a fond smile, holding a biscuit to Q's lips for him to nibble. His other hand slid beneath Q's hem, stroking his thumb over Q's ribs.

Q squirmed, Alec had reached a ticklish spot as he glanced at the clock on the wall. "It's 3 am. When did it get to be 3 am. Christ I'm sorry Alec. I just..."

"Shush Q. No work tomorrow so you can make it up to me." Placing a kiss on top of the dark curls that had a life of their own, obvious that in frustration Q's hands had wound through his hair... often.

"It's just that..." Q started.

"I know Q. We've had this conversation before, many times. My answer is going to be the same." Alec huffed into his hair. "Burning the candle at both ends."

"I have bags of energy yet" Q insisted, fighting off a yawn. He ducked his mouth behind his mug to hide it but of course Alec spotted it and smirked. Taking the mug from Q he stepped in close.

"Take a break. Come back to it fresh in a few hours." Q was about to protest but Alec cut him off with an unusually tender kiss. "What?" Alec chuckled at Q's confused look when he tried to chase the kiss but Alec pulled away.

"You are not going to distract me like that?" Q huffed. "I thought you wanted to drag me off to bed?"

Amelie regarded the pair balefully from her stool. Her pet humans never seemed to keep regular hours or sit still long enough to pet her properly. She jumped down and meowed at the garden door to be let out.

"Use the cat flap you lazy princess!" Alec grumbled good naturedly but opened the door. "Actually, how about we grab some fresh air too?"

"I don't think I can fit through the cat flap." Q smirked at his partner grabbing up his tea again cradling it in both hands.

"You are far from a princess, you little shite." Alec chuckled swatting at him as Q moved past him out into the cool night air of the garden. "I have never called you princess but come to think of it." Alec called after him as he grabbed the bowl of crisps and the chocolate biscuits to satisfy Q's need for munchies. Q had already curled up into "his end" of the sofa, feet tucked up underneath him.

Alec stopped in the doorway watching his younger partner, taking in the circles under his eyes, thin face, and how his jumper dwarfed him. Time to put Moneypenny on Q watch again, make sure he ate and took breaks at work. Once started on a project it was hard to pull Q away from it no matter how tired he was. And his work, delegating was another issue all of its own making.

Alec's thoughts were broken by "Amelie! Don't you dare eat that bug. And don't think you're going to drag it back inside the flat! I refuse to end up with something creepy crawly in my duvet."

Alec deposited both snacks on the sofa and returned a moment later wearing an old hoodie and carrying the duvet from the spare bedroom. "Doesn't matter if this one gets a bit damp. Our bed is chilly enough when you aren't in it, without adding moisture from outside. I expect we're here for the night?"

Q shrugged, nibbling on another biscuit, moving to carefully curl against Alec's side once his lover had settled comfortably and arranged the quilt over them. "Really not sleepy. But this is nice. Tea goes cold too quickly though."

They were silent for a while watching Amelie pounce and play with whatever creepy crawly had grabbed her attention. Q sipped his tea, lost in thought. "You're still not really with me are you?" Alec chuckled. His fingers stroked the bare skin of Q's stomach comfortingly. "Tell me about this thing you're tangling with? Maybe talking it out will give you some insight to get past the block."

Q rambled at Alec for 20 minutes as he alternated between chocolate biscuits and crisps. He babbled about the program his was writing even drawing diagrams for Alec in the dampness of the table in front of them. Suddenly abruptly stopping mid sentence, he turned and looked up at Alec. "You aren't understandIng a word I am telling you, are you?" Q smirked at him.

"Not one little bit Q." Alec chuckled pulling the duvet up around them tighter.

"You are such a wanker sometimes Alec." Q laughed as Amelie jumped up on the sofa with a chirping wet toad from the garden pond. "Oh I so hate you Amelie." shoving her off the table. He turned around until he was leaning up against Alec, back to him.

Alec pulled him in closer. "What else is churning around in that head of yours? You've been drifting in and out the last few days. Lost in that complicated head of yours."

Q sighed deeply and allowed his head to fall back onto Alec's shoulder, turning slightly so his warm breath tickled along Alec's forearm where it rested across his chest. One of Alec's fingers traced repeatedly over the ridge of Q's collar bone and Q closed his eyes enjoying the contact. Here in Alec's arms he could almost pretend the world wasn't the terrible place he knew it could be.

"Something is stirring, Alec. Out there". He waved a hand at the darkness and for a moment Alec thought he was referring to the garden until he continued. "So much unrest. Sometimes it feels like we're on the beach watching the swell of a great wave and all we have is our Wellington boots and weak wall of sand to protect us. And all I've done for the last three days is justify expenditure and clarify budgets. The real work is in there Alec. The work that could make an actual difference. It frustrates me..."

“Q?” Alec reached down and turned his face upwards so he could see his eyes.

“I don't think I'm cut out to be a department head. Budgets, political games, justifying all of Bond’s lost equipment… all that bloody shite. If I could just…” Q waved a hand around in the direction of the darkness in the garden.

“Sometimes you are just too philosophical, Q.” Alec’s lips brushed lightly against his forehead. “And you do make a difference as Quartermaster.”

“Quartermaster by default. I'd be so much better just working in R&D and hacking.”

“Well I must admit I am a little prejudiced in my opinion.” Alec chuckled. “Here. Have another biscuit. It will make the world all better.” Holding the packet up in front of Q.

Q grabbed a handful out of the package holding one up above his head for Alec to eat. “Biscuits do make it better, especially the chocolate ones.” Q sighed rubbing his face against Alec’s forearm. His eyes drifted to the city lights reflecting off the night sky clouds. Outside the garden walls the unknown that they faces every day waited. Inside however, Alec’s arms securely around him, safety… Anchoring him.

"You know... Things could be so much worse, Alec..." Q murmured, flicking crumbs off the duvet. Amelie jumped up and delicately curled up in the smallest hollow between their bodies, wriggling between them and pushing her head insistently against Q's hand until he obediently petted her ears.

"How so?" Alec asked between bites of biscuit. His hand drifted to pet Q's hair in much the same way.

"Well I could be doing all this alone... No jealous feline trying to compete with a partner... Though I must say your tokens of love are far less slimy and more palatable than hers. No one to remind me that there are other places... Warmer, more comfortable places to be in the early hours..."

"Glad to be of service, Quartermaster" Alec chuckled, squeezing slightly. Q was far too thin, was pushing himself too hard, but Alec had long learned that pointing it out wouldn't change matters so Q would take better care of himself. In some ways that role fell to Alec now, and as long as there were plenty of chocolate biscuits involved, Q accepted it with only minor snark.

"I think I'll close my eyes for a few" Q murmured sleepily. "Too much screen time. Need to rest them for an hour even if I can't sleep."

"Good plan" Alec grinned, watching as Q's fingers gradually stilled in Amelie's fur and his breath evened out. "I'll still be here."


End file.
